How to Make a Printable Flyer

Flyers can be used to communicate everything from a party or celebration to an important cause, and knowing how to print your own gives you complete control over the message you are sending. Don’t let an outsider create a generic announcement or rely on a template to best present your information. Instead, take charge of the presentation you want to make and create your own custom-made printable flyer to share your event, cause or advertisement.

Things You'll Need

Word processing or graphic design program

Photos or graphics

Paper

Printer

Define your primary message or goal for the flyer. Ideally, your flyer should prompt the viewer to perform a specific action, whether that is attending an event, signing up for lessons or purchasing a product. If your flyer is addressing a problem or cause, make sure that it tells the viewer what he can actually do about it. You may easily convince someone that homeless animals are a sad problem, but your flyer will be a waste if it does not then instruct the viewer to volunteer at a shelter, spay or neuter her pets, adopt a stray or perform some other action to solve the problem.

Gather information and graphics to include on the flyer. In addition to an eye-catching heading, your flyer should also include at least one graphic or illustration. The most important points to include are the date, time and location of events or the phone number and web page for a company or cause. Additional text, statistics and other information will complete the presentation.

Open a blank document in a word processing or graphic design program. Set the size of the document to the size of your flyer. If you are printing on a standard sheet of paper, this will be 8 1/2 by 11 inches.

Lay out your flyer using the information gathered in step 2. Place the heading at the top of the page or in the center. Make this text larger than the other text on the page. Create a border or box around various pieces of information on the flyer to break it up into small sections that are easy to read.

Proofread your flyer carefully for misspellings and other mistakes. Do not rely on a spell checker to catch all of your errors. Ask a friend or colleague to look over the finished flyer as well, to provide a fresh set of eyes.

Print your flyers onto study paper, such as card stock. If you are using colored paper, use only black and gray ink. Print a sample first to double check the alignment and correct any errors before you print a larger batch.

Tips & Warnings

Use no more than two different fonts on your flyer. Avoid artistic fonts that are difficult to read at a glance.

Keep your point brief, and direct the viewer to other sources for more information, such as a website, lecture or hotline.

A lengthy chunk of wording will be difficult for passers to read, and very few will take the time to examine it all. Use bullet points or extremely short paragraphs to give the information on the flyer the most impact.